44 pPant Tsope, Tsege^/, orTS T^qrlcy, 



among the dried grass and herbs which served for His bed. 

 Suddenly the Sainfoin began to expand its dehcate blossoms, and 

 to the astonishment of Mary, formed a wreath around the head of 

 the holy babe. In commemoration of the infant Saviour having 

 laid on a manger, it is customary, in some parts of Italy, to deck 

 mangers at Christmas time with Moss, Sow-Thistle, Cypress, and 

 prickly Holly : boughs of Juniper are also used for Christmas 

 decorations, because tradition affirms that the Virgin and Child 

 found safety amongst its branches when pursued by Herod's mer- 

 cenaries. The Juniper is also believed to have furnished the 

 wood of the Cross on which Jesus was crucified. 



At Christmas, according to an ancient pious tradition, all the 

 plants rejoice. In commemoration of the birth of our Saviour, in 

 countries nearer His birthplace than England, the Apple, Cherry, 

 Carnation, Balm, Rose of Jericho, and Rose of Mariastem (in 

 Alsatia), burst forth into blossom at Christmas, whilst in our own 

 land the day is celebrated by the blossoming of the Glastonbury 

 Thorn, sprung from St. Joseph's staff, and the flowering of the 

 Christmas Rose, or Christ's Herb, known in France as la Rose de 

 Noel, and in Germany as Christwurzcl, 



On Good Friday, in remembrance of the Passion of our Lord, 

 all the trees, says the legend, shudder and tremble. The Swedes 

 and Scotch have a tradition that Christ was scourged with a rod 

 of the dwarf Birch, which was once a noble tree, but has ever 

 since remained stunted and lowly. It is called Lang Fredags ris, or 

 Good Friday rod. There is another legend extant, which states 

 that the rod with which Christ was scourged was cut from a 

 Willow, and that the trees of its species have drooped their 

 branches to the earth in grief and shame from that time, and 

 have, consequently, borne the name of Weeping Willows. 



©IRe difooor^ o^ iIRorri(t>. 



Sir J. Maundevile, who visited the Holy Land in the fourteenth 

 century, has recorded that he had many times seen the identical 

 crown of Thorns worn by Jesus Christ, one half of which was at 

 Constantinople and the other half at Paris, where it was religiously 

 preserved in a vessel of crystal in the King's Chapel. This crown 

 Maundevile says was of " Jonkes of the see, that is to sey, Rushes 

 of the see, that prykken als scharpely as Thornes;" he further 

 adds that he had been presented with one of the precious thorns, 

 which had fallen off into the vessel, and that it resembled a 

 White Thorn. The old traveller gives the following circumstantial 

 account of oar Lord's trial and condemnation, from which it 

 would appear that Jesus was first crowned with White Thorn, 

 then with Eglantine, and finally with Rushes of the sea. He 

 writes : — " In that nyghte that He was taken. He was ylad into 

 a gardyn ; and there He was first examyned righte scharply; 



